Sea Of Treason, Pirate's Bluff #1

Liar's Dice

Bluff

The grumbling of the crew is ceaseless. It takes everything in me not to tell them all off as they complain about every little thing. How it's so dark. How they can't feel the spray of the ocean. How Lars always stinks up the place and now they can't even go get a breath of fresh air.

This is one day of their long lives. In two days' time, everything will be back to normal for them. Me? I very well may be meeting a never-ending nightmare. I'll get to watch Whitley tortured until she consents to help them control me, which will be equally painful.

I have something to complain about. They don't.

It's not even like we're locked in the brig. We get our own beds, with our belongings and food and water. We even have rum. These boys are spoiled, indeed.

I lay on Ink's bunk, thinking through contingency plans. I need to break out of here, but how do I do that with a dozen crew piled in top of each other? How can I do anything without being seen? May have been easier if I'd chosen a natural loner. At least then they wouldn't think much of it if I disappeared for a few hours at a time. Ink and his big mouth-- they'd notice. 

"Hey Ink!"

I sit up to find Lucky-Seven smiling at me and I resist the muscles in my face turning into a sneer. Of course it would be him calling me. 

"What?" I grumble, playing off that I'm annoyed at the situation as much as the next guy. Which I guess I am. But mostly, I really don't want to talk to him.

"Hows about a game."

I raise my eyebrows. "What sort?"

"Liars dice, with rum." He winks.

I hold back a smirk. No one is better at liars dice than me. Most men won't even allow me to play anymore. Unfair, they say. Except they don't know it's me.

I stand, allowing a smile to spread across my face. I work to make it a goofy one, not too telling that I'm eager to beat them.

I pull up a crate and settle in next to the empty whiskey barrel we use as a table.

"Loser drinks." Are all the instruction we get. Lucky places a massive rum bottle in the middle of our makeshift table.

Now I have my plan. There are six men crowded around the table, including myself. Three others are in the corner drinking rum all on their own. That's eight men that will be out for the night if I win this game, leaving them all drunk as skunks. It's not all of them, but it's a large enough portion it'll leave me with an easy escape. 

We each have cups in which we roll our five die, then peak at only our own.

"Two fives." Lars says. It's a guess at how many fives there are-- total. You only get to know your own but you bet on everyone else's. Bid too many, and you lose.

I'm next. I don't have any fives. My choice is make a higher bid, or call him a liar. With 30 die in play, there's no way I'd call him a liar at so low a number. I can take an easy route and only bid a number I have. Or I could lie and lead someone in the wrong direction.

"Five fives." I say. It's a gamble. Forces the next guy to bid very high--hopefully sticking to fives assuming Lars and I both have some. Unless he calls me a liar, in which case he very well may win.

They key to Liar's Dice isn't lying or telling the truth-- it's remaining unpredictable. If they know you lie every time,  they'll have the upper hand. If they know you  tell the truth every time, they'll have an even bigger advantage. So do both. Never let them know which one you're doing when. That's how you win. 

Lucky is after me and narrows his eyes. "Seven fives," he says after a long moment.

Stevie barrel laughs. "Liar!" he calls.

We all expose our die. There are five fives total, his seven bid was too high.

"Shit!" Lucky yells, tossing his cup. Stevie steals one of his die and hands him the bottle. Lucky chugs.

Great start. Except that Lucky eyes my die, noting that I didn't have a single five. His eyes travel up to mine, staring me down.

My stomach sinks, realizing something a bit too late.

They know Bluff is good at this game.

They know Bluff is down here somewhere.

What better way to weed me out than to play a game I can't resist dominating at? One round is meaningless. But if I keep winning...

It's a much better tactic than hurting Whitley, I will say. But I still can't let them succeed, which means I can't win.  I blink back this reality. Guess that plan of mine wasn't such a good one after all. 

I have to stay in character, I realize with a sinking stomach.

Right now I'm Ink.

Ink would certainly play dice, but Ink would also certainly lose....

I suspect there is going to be a lot of rum in my near future. 

***WHOO! I'm super excited I was able to include a game of Liar's Dice in this story. Anyone out there familiar with this game? We learned it after watching the second Pirates Of The Caribbean so I'm not sure how well known it is. Remember when they played a dice game on Davvy Jone's ship, The Flying Dutchman, when Will plays for "The Key" and his father loses purposefully to save him? That game is called Liar's Dice and it's actually super fun. My family/friends play it occasionally.  Of course, in the movie they gambled years of servitude which is, ya know, a bit extreme, but still-- same game.  I'm curious, especially if you aren't familiar, if you were able to follow the rules of the game, or if it was distracting? Too much info? not enough? I'd love to hear what you thought about the way I used it here :)  Stacey ***